Maybe it's all in my head....

So, is there anything in the world more awkward than to unexpectedly run into someone you may have drunkenly made out with and then never spoke to again?  This happened to me twice this weekend.  Thankfully there was no badness that resulted but it's one of those times where I find myself at a loss for what to say.

The first one occurred at lunch on Friday with my mother and my sister and her overly-sensitive redneck boyfriend.  As I am eating my chimichunga, I happen to look up in time to see that the girl walking past me just happens to be the girl that dragged me into the bathroom of a local drinking establishment for a very intense personal experience.  Of course, this experience caused a great deal of vitriol to be sent my way by her's and my mutual friend who happens to like her as well, but never did anything about it.  Anyways, as she walked past me at lunch she made a very clear effort to avoid acknowledging my presence.  I felt kind of thwarted though since my dining companions were family, I couldn't just say "Hey I made out with the chick in a bar bathroom." like I could if I was with my friends.

The second instance occurred on Saturday night when I met my friend Gary Papua at a bar downtown.  He was with a few others and one of them introduced herself to me as *****.  Of course I had met her almost 5 years ago at the last big New Year's Eve party I attended.  I may have made out with her, it's a tad fuzzy, but the kicker of the story was that after that occurred ***** became a lesbian.  It's a bit weird but I find it oddly satisfying to know that I am the last guy she will ever make out with.  Luckily things were not at all awkward between her and me, although no one said anything about that New Year's Eve.

At some point in my life I should seriously reconsider my open policy on making out.

Because labels are so important

We'll just call this "The Weekend Of Running Into Girls I've Made Out With". More to come.....

More Scenes from Christmas....

-My Mother asking if 2009 is a leap year, and the subsequent discussion of what occurs on a leap year (presidential elections, summer olympics).

-My Sister fast becoming a Christmas Nazi (We WILL open presents at 8:30).

-The choir at Mass managing to make all Christmas carols sound like dirges.

-Mother requesting a drink as soon as Mass is over.

-My GMAT writing score making me wonder if engineering is really the right field for me (it was a 5.5 out of 6, way above average)

-I watched A Christmas Story at least three times, and laughed every time at the soap in the mouth scene.

Also, I've learned that I can not impugn the manhood of my sister's redneck boyfriend by suggesting he is drinking a girly drink (to be fair it was a Tootsie Roll). Of course I was drinking mimosas most of the day....

Scenes from Christmas thus far...

The sun is shining, the grass is green....

Ok, so maybe the grass isn't necessarily green, but I still kind of would like some sort of winter weather, it's Christmas for freakin' sakes.

I'm in a mood.  I think my Christmas spirit has run dry.  So I think I may just have to replace it with more earthly spirits.  After all it is 12:30 in Christmas Eve, I have put in my half day at work, I wrote my monthly report, and I have nothing else to do with my day (outside of Mass and family dinner).

An explanations of sorts....

It was put to me this weekend, the question of why I decided to enlist in the Guard and I feel as though I should try to explain my rationale, even if the person who asked me it may never be satisfied with my answers.  (To which she is most likely to say that it is my decision but I am still wrong and she is right and she won the argument.)

I'm not going to lie, the money they were offering was a big argument for enlisting.  I want to go to grad school, and I'd rather not pay for it.  I know there are other ways of getting money, but this was the route I chose.

Secondly, I needed a change in my life.  The place I was in my life wasn't too pretty and I was starting to question everything I was doing.  I was tired of playing things safe in my life and felt the only way to break the cycle was to do something completely out of character and possibly stupid.  

I think one of the biggest reasons I decided to enlist was due to my innate desire to serve my country in some fashion.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those types who refuses to acknowledge the bad parts of my country.  I am quite vocal about what I consider to be wrong with the country.  But for whatever reason I have always thought that everyone should give something to help make this country a better place.  I got really annoyed during the election when I kept hearing "Country First" coming from people who have never volunteered or offered to do anything to serve their country.  

I'm not trying to make myself into some Kierkegaardian hero, claiming my sacrifices make me better than anyone else, but I've tried to live my life helping and serving others.  I feel that enlisting in the Guard is a natural extension of this idea.  It was also hard to read about all of the difficulties faced by the soldiers who deploy, especially since many of my friends have deployed and served overseas.  I felt as though I needed to do my part to help them.  It's hard to explain why, I think it has to do with sharing the experience, not necessarily of deploying, but at least being in the military and understanding what that life entails.  

So there you go, an imperfect, but reasoned argument for why I sold my soul to the military.  I'm not saying that the Army is the greatest institution out there.  I've seen too much of how it operates already to have very high expectations of Army life.  I may try to write about the shortcomings of the military later once I've spent more time there, and besides that's not the purpose of this post.  The only thing I know is that this was my decision and decision alone and whatever may happen I chose this and that makes me feel happy.

Well it had to happen sometime....

It has finally happened.  The internet has completely creeped me out more than I have ever been creeped out.

This is apparently part of Burger King's ad campaign for its new Flame scent.  Somehow I don't think this is an avenue they should pursue.

And another box is added to the pile....

I think I may have survived the Christmas period relatively unscathed.  I only added one box to my collection.  Of course that might have something to do with the fact that I almost forgot to buy anyone presents this year....

Although a Norman Mailer Christmas would be a lot more interesting....

Fine, I'll admit it. My family tends to have those nice Norman Rockwell Christmases. Of course we still use a fake Christmas tree, no matter how bad for the environment it is.

Driving Thoughts....

Putting an A-10 unit patch stickler on the back of a minivan doesn't change the fact that it is still a minivan.

Furry and proud....

The Daily Beast has a great piece on the return of chest hair.  As a fairly hirsute guy myself, I am quite pleased with this development.   I can not tell you how many times people have made comments on my chest hair.  I refuse to shave it, if just for the fact that it would take forever.  I will say that my favorite part about having chest hair is when a girl runs her fingers through it.   Mmmmm....yeah.....

Addendum to Dispatches from Dallas

Yeah, it looks rediculous.-Sent by the Sooner

This was sent to me by the Sooner, it is one of the prizes that we got when I was playing in Dallas this past weekend.  The Sooner and I teamed up to get as many tickets as possible.  I have a matching one as well.  

Lost in translation....

Now, I've never been one to pick a fight with an angry mob, but it might help your message if you could get the idiosyncrasies of the English language down before you start making signs.  I hear Google Translate is quite good at this.  Of course, proper English use is still a fantasy in this country as well.....

So now what?

Back in July I enlisted in the Army National Guard.  I could discuss my reasons for this at a different time, most likely as I contemplate everything that has happened over the course of this year closer towards New Years.  Anyways, I told the guys working down at MEPS that I would like to go to Basic Training in March because I was finishing a project at work at it wouldn't be over until February.  Mind you, I am sick and tired of this project, but I've been working on it since I started at my job, and I felt as though I should see it through, especially since I was writing the monthly reports.

Well, I was just informed by my boss that the project is over, a good two months early.  Apparently, he has already written the final report and we are low on money.  OK, that's fine.  Of course, it would've been nice if someone had bothered to tell me anything.  Keep me in the loop possibly.  I was the only one doing any actual work on the project.  I'm not asking that all decisions must run through me, but keep me apprised of what is happening.  Is that too much to ask?

I guess this is more of an extension of my overall job experience.  I was under the impression when I was hired, that after spending a little time learning the lab procedures and getting a bit of experience, that I would be able to take on more responsibility and begin to have my own projects.  What has so far occurred is very much far from that.  I have co-authored one proposal.  The next few times when the proposal topics have been published, even though I expressly stated my want to write a topic, even though the VP of the group included me on the email about the meeting to discuss writing strategies (which my boss attended and saw me there) when my group met to discuss topics, I was not included.  I have not written any other proposals, I'm not even included in discussions about topics.

Rather, my job seems to be limited to dealing with projects that everyone else is tired of, spraying things, and shipping haz-mat materials.  Is this really what an aerospace engineering degree is supposed to get me?  I need to leave this job because I am getting nothing out of it.  I'm not learning any new skills, I actually think I am losing my skills as an engineer because I have been reduced to being a lab monkey.  I feel as though if I apply for a job with an actual engineering company I would have to take an entry level position because I would be unfamiliar with any real engineering practices they use.  

If my current lack of responsibility at work is somehow related to my enlisting, it would be nice if they told me.  If someone had said, "well you are leaving in a few months so it wouldn't be right to have you write a proposal when you won't be here to carry out the project", That I would understand.  But instead I am in this informational black hole.  As far as my boss knows, I am leaving for four months of training in February, but I am coming back in July.  But then what, will they give me any new projects to work on, or will I merely be stuck with some vague idea of the fact that I should have some work to perform.

I could go and talk to my boss, explain why I appear to be unmotivated (I should probably not mention that a trained monkey could do my job), but what's the point?  Honestly, I am trying my damnedest to get the hell out of this city, out of this state, and into grad school, or maybe just a job that will pay me a fair market wage (I am in the bottom 20% of what entry -level aerospace engineers make).  I haven't told him this, I fear it would leave me with even less to do during the day at work.  Man I'm tired of all this.

Dispatches from Dallas...

Well I'm here in Dallas celebrating the birthday of the Drinking Buddy. It was fun, her sister came into town as well and was in a playful mood. Too bad she currently has a boyfriend, who apparently got drunk and then drunk dialed her. I think that makes me look good.

I'm not the biggest fan of driving on I-35, there are just too many trucks on the road, driving slowly and blocking lanes. Dallas isn't too terrible of a town, it may be big but I do find it much easier to navigate as opposed to Houston, which for all I care can fall into the ocean.

Curently I am chilling on the couch, drinking some gatorade waiting on the two sisters to get up. This could take a while. By the by, the sister was forbidden to sleep with me. I'm not saying she would, as she has a boyfriend, but the pre-emptive cock block seems a tad severe.

I will say that it is nice to get a decent night's sleep without the cat waking me up 4 am.

When Boredom Strikes

I was bored and got inspired by fellow Celebritologist ep, who I may have a slight crush on.

Falling Sky

I am currently battling a head cold and am completely miserable.  I have post-nasal drippage, a touch of laryngitis, I sneeze, I constantly have the feeling of needing to sneeze, my sinuses are congested.  In short, I am dying.

Yes I am a complete wuss when it comes to being sick.  I attribute this to the fact that I never really get sick.  I was the kid who never got sick, which earned me plenty of perfect attendance awards in school.  But now I can't handle even getting the sniffles.

To compound this cold, any and all good drugs (the ones with pseudoephredrine) must now be kept behind the counter in the pharmacy, and it is a hassle to purchase them.  Believe me, I used to sell them.  So I am trying to get through this using only my prescription allergy meds to fight off the symptoms and drinking lots and lots of water to try and flush my system out.  

But none of this changes the fact that I am dying.

Random Thought

Why is it that in public restrooms today, you will have an automatically flushing toilet/urinal, an automatic water faucet and soap dispenser, but the paper towels still have to be operated manually?